124065 O5 Final Evaluation Document.pdf

This is a Final Evaluation Document for Request for Proposal Number 124065 O5 issued by the State of Nebraska Department of Water, Energy, and Environment (NDWEE) for the development and implementation of a Carbon Intensity Data Bank and Grants Program supporting the Opportunity for Nebraska: Reducing Emissions and Decarbonization Program (ONE RED). The solicitation seeks a qualified contractor to design, develop, and maintain secure digital platforms including a CI Data Bank system for uploading verified carbon intensity scores, a Precision Agriculture and Carbon Intensity Grants Program digital interface for farmer and vendor applications, automated payment processing systems, cybersecurity and data privacy protections, user training materials and customer support, and advanced reporting and analytics capabilities. The electronic solicitation opened on February 23, 2026, at 2:00 p.m. Central Time, with the Intent to Award posted March 11, 2026, and contract execution anticipated for March 23, 2026. The initial contract term extends through September 30, 2029, with options to renew for two additional six-month periods. The evaluation criteria allocate 25 points to Corporate Overview, 65 points to Technical Response, and 10 points to Cost, with optional 20 additional points for vendor demonstrations, for a maximum score of 120 points.

The evaluation document presents scoring results for six bidders across all evaluation components. Bidder 5 (Jacobs Engineering) achieved the highest overall score of 92.58 points without vendor demonstrations and 75.25 points on Technical Response alone, followed by Bidder 6 (Full Value Ag) with 89.60 points. The solicitation is funded by EPA Climate Pollution Reduction Implementation Grant funds awarded to Nebraska in October 2024, though specific budget amounts are not disclosed. Contractors must submit firm, fixed labor rates by staff category that remain constant throughout the contract term. The procurement welcomes participation from resident disabled veterans, businesses in designated enterprise zones, and blind persons licensed by the Commission for the Blind & Visually Impaired, though Nebraska vendors are preferred without formal set-asides. No incumbent vendor is identified. The contractor must maintain comprehensive insurance coverage including workers' compensation, commercial general liability, commercial automobile liability, professional liability, cyber liability, and commercial crime insurance with specified minimum limits, and must utilize StreamLink Software Inc. (DBA AmpliFund) for data management protocols with hosting on Nebraska's single-tenant Microsoft Azure cloud environment meeting SOC 2 audit standard compliance.